


This Important

by SpaceEdgars



Series: Something This Important [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Barry and Lup are Angus's Biological Parents, Canon Trans Character, Family, Fluff, Other, Trans Female Character, because MAGIC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-05 13:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12191025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceEdgars/pseuds/SpaceEdgars
Summary: It wasn’t until the day of story and song was over that Lup realized something. Something very,very important. Something she didn’t realize until she saw Angus walk over to Barry after the battle, and when she saw Barry put his hand on Angus’s head and ruffle his hair. Something she’d completely forgot.





	1. Realization

It wasn’t until the day of story and song was over that Lup realized something. Something very, very important. Something she didn’t realize until she saw Angus walk over to Barry after the battle, and when she saw Barry put his hand on Angus’s head and ruffle his hair. Something she’d completely forgot.

“Holy fucking shit...” she said, really wishing she had a physical body again.

How could she have forgotten something this important?

-

It was something she and Barry talked about for several cycles, but it had never been the right time. They knew it wasn’t safe enough yet, that with the task of finding and saving the Light of Creation with every new cycle, that they wouldn’t have the time for it. They weren’t sure if being Liches would interfere in the process. But this was something they definitely wanted.

They wanted a child.

It was something they could do. Taako had fixed Lup’s gender problem with a little transmutation magic back before the mission had even started, it was probably the best birthday present she’d ever received. Taako definitely won that birthday war that year.

So, it wasn’t like it was impossible.

And when the light landed right on the ship at the beginning of the 99th cycle, and they made their relics, and set them into the world to be desired, they sat back to watch what would happen, and Lup and Barry prepared for something else.

Their child.

The first person they told was Taako, who appropriately freaked out, smothered the two of them in a fierce hug, and then asked, “So when is little Taako Jr. due?” Resulting in laughter from the three of them. They had told them that, thanks to a visit to a fantasy doctor, who didn’t ask very many questions when they had said they would pay him up front, eight months.

The months continued and, when they were three months in they decided to let the rest of the crew know, as Lup was starting to show, and she would rather not have people question her, especially since she’s already started the dumb things like cravings and morning sickness and while it was easy to hide her cravings by cooking when everyone else was asleep, as she didn’t need to do that shit. She was worried that Merle was on to her, as he asked if she was sick and wanted him to give her a check-up after she’d overheard her complaining about throwing up almost every morning to Taako one day in the kitchen. So, she told Barry it was time for the truth to come out.

She also told him she’d wanted it to come about naturally, that she wanted to slip it into natural conversation. Barry decided Lup should be the one to bring it up the next time the moment felt right.

The perfect time came about faster than they had anticipated, the next day in fact, but it was a pretty good coincidental set up from Magnus.

Davenport and Lucretia had called them to a meeting in the Starblaster’s dining room.

“Well,” Davenport started “we can’t just stay here forever. We should start looking for somewhere on the ground to set up a permanent camp. It has been months since the hunger’s scouts would have shown up normally, so hopefully we can just find a town where we can all find places- “ 

“But I don’t want the seven of us to split up!” Magnus interjected

Lup glanced at Barry before correcting, “Eight.”

She said this just as Lucretia began to reason with the fighter “Magnus- I know we’ve spent one hundred years- “

“Wait, what did you just say?” Davenport asked, looking at Lup.

“Eight, the eight of us can’t just split up. We’re like family, even more so now,” Lup said as she laced her fingers with Barry’s under the table, and placed her other hand carefully on her stomach. She met the gaze of everyone at the table, first Taako, who was giving her a knowing smile. Then Magnus, who was squinting at her, trying to figure out what she was implied. Lup guessed he was wondering if she was referring to Fisher. Next to Magnus was Lucretia, who looked shocked, but was smiling with her mouth slightly open. Davenport looked equally as shocked, but he seemed to still be processing what she was saying. Merle was next to meet her gaze, and he had an ecstatic smile that you could even see through his great bushy beard. Lastly, she reached Barry, who’s grip on her hand had turned to steel and she squeezed back equally as hard. Barry had actually been doing the same thing as her, but when he finished his round of the table he turned to look at Lup, and it sort of looked like he’d just been told for the first time as well. He’d looked at her with so much love and happiness and it looked like he was about to cry.

Lup had had to restrain herself from smothering his face in kisses.

“You- You’re- a baby?” Lucretia had asked, stunned out of her usual fluid way of speaking.

Lup and Barry simultaneously nodded.

Taako stood up, breaking up the awkward silence that had fallen with this announcement, he threw his arms around Lup’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Thanks for finally telling everyone, Lulu. I’ve been hard holding holdin’ to that one for months! it’s like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders!” Lup pushed him away and Taako wandered into the kitchen.

With the silence broken, Lup and Barry were met with a flurry of questions.

When are you due? (Like, six months? So, late October?) Do you want a boy or a girl? (We’ll honestly be pleased with whatever, ya know? Like they can be whatever they want). Do you have any names? (Well, we have our own ideas, but if you have any suggestions, like how Taako’s thrown in Taako Jr, give ‘em to us). But, Lup I uh, thought you were, uh- (Magnus, that issue was solved with magic over a hundred years ago, my dude).

There were many questions that night, all of which were given careful answers. Later Barry and Lup would retire to what had at one point been Lup’s, but was now their room. They talked a lot that night, mainly about the questions. For the first time, they really gave names a serious discussion, and they decided they weren’t going to use any magical means to find out the gender early, and there were shared tears of relief because how well the news had been received. That they fell asleep with foreheads pressed together, fingers interlaced and legs intertwined.

About three weeks later, after a particularly rough morning of sickness, Lup got worried. Thousands of what-ifs filled her mind, and Lup the worry twisting its way through her stomach turned into an overwhelming feeling of dread. She stumbled out of the bathroom and rushed to her room before anyone could see her crying. Once the door was firmly closed, she let the dread pour over her, leaning on the wall next to the door and sliding down it so she was sitting with her head in her hands. It wasn’t long before there was a knock at the door and there was a muffled “Lup?”

From outside the room Barry’s only reply was a loud sniffle, and he carefully opened it to find Lup sitting next to it. He kneeled down next to her, carefully moving her hair behind her ear.

“Babe, babe, is everything okay? Are you okay? What happened?” he asked, panic filling his voice. Her response was another response was another sniffle and for her arms to shoot out from her face and around Barry’s neck. Barry carefully wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, moving over to sit on the bed as she cried into his shoulder. “Lup, you gotta tell me what’s wrong. I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”

There was a moment before Lup took a shaky breath and looked up at him. “It’s just- What if I die when it’s born? What if it dies? What if the hunger comes anyway? And we go back to our recoded state and it disappears? What if it’s born and everything is fucked up because we’re Liches? What if -”

“Hey now, none of that’s gonna happen. I won’t let it. Our child won’t grow up motherless because if you die in childbirth you’ll come back as a Lich and the kid will love you just the same and I’ll figure out a way for you to get a new body and you’ll be able to hold them. I won’t let him die. There’s no way in hell that is going to happen. If the hunger shows up anyway we still have Lucretia’s plan to fall back on, or we will fight it off. We won’t let it take our child away from us. And I bet the only thing it will get from us being liches is sweet lich powers, so don’t worry about that at all.” Barry said all of this while slowly stroking Lup’s hair and rubbing slow circles in her back.

Lup’s sobs and sniffles slowly faded until it was just her heavy breathing. Finally, she spoke again, “Bar, I’m- I’m just so _scared_.”

“I know, I am too.”

In the coming months the relic wars began, and Lup only grew more and more stressed. The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet was too powerful, and causing mass destruction.

The Starblaster crew were all monitoring the progress of their respective relics. Except for Barry, he had taken to researching how to care for children, humans, elves and half-elves, to learn as much as he could about his future child. He also took to studying how to deliver a child, because there was no way they weren’t having a home birth, with just the IPRE crew members to witness it. Visiting doctors on the surface was risky enough, with them being not from this world and all. Unbeknownst to him Taako and Lucretia were also studying similar topics.

Lup was starting to stress out, knowing the mass amount of destruction her relic was causing Faerun. Cities turned into circles of glass haunted her dreams, so it was no wonder she laughed when a doctor she had visited told her she needed to spend as much time as possible relaxing.

Things got better when the doctor told her she needed to begin bed rest. Lup stayed below deck, in her room and for once, upon Barry’s request, allowing the crew to care for her. Taako cooked to fulfil her weird cravings. She told the others that her room was a no-relic-wars zone, but she was still worried about the mass amounts of destruction she had inadvertently caused. Not hearing about the war did cause her to relax some, and the guilt stopped eating away at her while she lay in bed, reading, and doing whatever she could to pass the time until her child finally arrived.

And one day it did. Lup woke up with intense stomach pain, and was about to get up to go to the bathroom to throw up, when the pain abruptly stopped, and then started again. _Oh, so_ this _is what’s happening_. Lup reached over, urgently searching for Barry’s body so she could shake him awake. Luckily, she found Barry, unluckily for Barry she found his face. “Barry, Barr, Barold, babe, dude, wake up.”

“Mmph,” was Barry’s mumbled reply.

‘It’s time, this is happening, oh my god!” Lup persisted, with an edge of pain in her voice.

“Oh, shit!” Barry said, now very, very, awake. Sitting up, he pounded on the wall that separated them from Taako. “Dude! Taako! Get the _fuck_ up and get over here! It’s time!”

There was a thud from the other side of the wall, accompanied by an oof, followed by some shuffling as Taako most likely fell off his bed. As Barry waited for Taako to arrive, he got out of bed himself and grabbed the Stone of Farspeech sitting on the bedside table and quickly turned it on and set it on the open frequency so everyone would hear him. “Fuck guys it’s happening, its go time, its baby-o'clock, _GUYS_.”

This was followed by a weak laugh from Lup as she heard the mix of excitement, desperation, panic and more excitement in Barry’s voice. “Barry, hon. You gotta calm down, my dude,” she said, and then winced as another wave of pain passed over her. From the stone came four replies:

“I’ll be right over,” from Lucretia

“Aww shit, guys! Let me put some pants on and I’ll be right there!” Magnus said, and forgot to turn the stone off as the sounds of him fumbling around for clothes in his disaster scene of a room. This drew another laugh from Lup, which ended in a groan.

“Oh boy, lemme see what I can do to help, I’m sure we covered it in those biology classes I had to take at the institute” merle grumbled, sounding like he was getting out of bed. Barry cracked a smile as Lup muttered, “Don’t let him help.”

“Should- should I go get a professional from the mainland? Who knows what they are doing? N-Not that I don’t believe in us but-” Davenport started before Barry cut him off with a stern “No. No way.”

After these replies the door flew open and Taako pushed in, pulling his hair back into a messy ponytail as he walked over to Lup’s side. Taako grasped one of her hand and Lup squeezed it so hard that Taako’s fingers turned white. A couple minutes later Lucretia walked in, followed shortly by Magnus, Davenport and Merle.

“Well, the gang’s all here, let’s do this shit,” Lup said before groaning and nearly breaking Taako’s hand.

And hours later, thanks to the research that Barry, Taako and Lucretia had done, there was a wiggly baby boy, wrapped in the softest cloth they can find, Lup’s red cloak, cradled in her arms. She smiled down at the tiny figure, and she scooted over so Barry could sit down next to them. The others filtered out of the room with words of congratulations and comments on how beautiful the baby was. Taako left last, planting a kiss on Lup’s head and booping the child’s nose before getting up and heading out the door, promising to make the most delicious meal he could for the new parents. He shut the door carefully behind him.

“We did it,” Lup whispered as she leaned into Barry’s arms.

“We sure did,” Barry said as he ran his hand over the little wisps of hair the baby had, “So this is little Angus, our son.”

“Yeah. That’s the name we decided for a boy. Angus Bluejeans,” Lup looked down at the little bundle as he opened his eye’s slowly.

-

Lup’s spectral form floated quickly over to the two boys. Her boys.

“I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I did this to you two.” She said, her lich form starting to crackle and shoot off red sparks.

“Lup- no! You only did what you thought was best for the world!” Barry protested, reaching out to grab her spectral hand, only for it to pass through her form.

“It was so selfish of me to leave!”

“You would have come back, Lup, you didn’t mean to leave for good.”

“But I died, and I was eaten by my own stupid umbrella. Had I stayed Lucretia would have at least kept us together when she enacted her master plan. I wouldn’t have left you two.” Lup’s black ghostly body wasn’t sparking as much.

“I- I’m sorry, ma’am, but what do you mean ‘you two?’”

-

It was about three months later, and Lup’s guilt was eating away at her. Almost every week there was a new circle of glass appearing on Faerun, and that alone was killing her. She’d caused so much destruction. She wanted it to stop.

So, one morning she left, donning her red cloak and taking what would be her last look at her lover and her son for over ten years. She wrote a quick, two-word note- ‘Back soon~’ and kissed the corner. She planned to be back within a week. She knew where she would hide the gauntlet, she knew where a battle was raging. It was only a matter of time before this battle was over, and she could collect.

She didn’t plan for Cyrus Rockseeker to be her downfall. She didn’t plan to be literally stabbed in the back. She secured her relic where it would remain undisturbed for ten years, and collapsed against the wall waiting for death to take her as the poison spread throughout her body. Being a Lich didn’t make dying any less painful. Her final thoughts before she separated from her body were of Angus, who she would never get to hold again. As her spectral form rose, she sighed in resignation, knowing Barry would be disappointed in her, but then she was being sucked into her own weapon, and all she knew was darkness for a while, the thoughts of Taako and Barry and the other members of the Starblaster Crew keeping her conscious, but mainly Angus. Her sweet child.

She spent years before she heard familiar voices, or, three familiar voices. Magnus, Merle and Taako, her little brother (if only by three minutes). Why didn’t they recognize her robe, or the umbrastaff? Merle tried to pick her up, and she cast him away. Taako had to remember. Then Taako tried, and she gladly allowed him to. But nothing came to him.

When all was said and done, and the three boys ended up on the moon base, Lup started to piece it together. When she sensed the presence of the voidfish, she realized what had happened. Their adventure had been forgotten. But after being inoculated, they still didn’t remember her, or recognize the umbrella. And when she heard Lucretia’s voice, surprised to find her old crewmates before her, Lup got the full story, and pieced together this:

There was a second voidfish, for she realized that she recognized the same feelings of longing coming off Fisher were coming off her, longing for their children. And when she felt Davenport came out, not recognizing his old teammates, and barely knowing his old name, Lup felt the reality of what Lucretia had done. She had made them forget everything. Their one-hundred-year adventure was erased.

But where was Barry? And Angus? Lup wished she could scream at ‘The Director’ for answers, but she was trapped in an umbrella.

And so, she waited.

-

“Angus, you’ve been through so much and I didn’t even realize it was you until just now.”

-

Lup didn’t recognize his laugh when the boys were solving a murder on the Rockport Limited. She’d heard that laugh before when Magnus had tried to cheer Angus up by making funny faces until he stopped crying. But she didn’t realize who it was.

Lup didn’t recognize the sound of sniffles coming from Angus once he had reestablished connection with the boys while in Lucas Miller’s lab. She’d heard her son cry more times than she could count. But she didn’t realize who it was.

Lup had spent all this time concentrated on Barry and Taako. She had summoned all the energy she could when he appeared in Goldcliff, but couldn’t muster anything. When Barry had recognized her Umbrella in Lucas Miller’s lab, she had tried to force her way through the black curtains surrounding her, but no matter how deep in the folds she got, she always emerged in the same chamber. When she had burned her name into the wall she had done it to get Taako’s attention, not Angus’s. She should have realized then when she saw the power that lie dormant in the boy detective. Her love had appeared again when the boys had made it out of Refuge, and yet again she could no nothing as Barry cried out in anguish when the boys wouldn’t trust him. She screamed, but nothing would go through to the outside world. When she had realized that Kravitz was a reaper, her passion for protecting her brother, Barry and herself had been enough to summon a massive firebolt, which she had hoped to hit the reaper with, but Taako’s slight infatuation with the man had stopped her plans. Knowing Taako, Lup had realized that her twin was in deep. In Wonderland Lup had cried when she realized Magnus was starting to remember, in Wonderland Barry’s presence had been constant, but she couldn’t gather the energy, even with her brother and the other boys sacrificing so much, to show she Barry she was trapped, to show him she was there. She was able to help though, when the Lich Edward had been sucked into her prison, wondering where he was and who she was, she had beat the living shit out him, not bothering to gather up one of the wands Taako had absorbed, just using her brute strength to kill the elf causing the suffering with his and his sisters stupid game. Once wonderland was over, Barry had taken them to his cave lab, and reassumed his corporeal body, but now he was also afflicted by the Fisher’s powers. Lup was so conflicted. The amount of passion of sensing her lover in the flesh could have probably summoned any spell, but Barry wouldn’t realize it was her now that he was under the voidfish’s power.

So, she built that power, and when the hunger finally struck, and the boys were remembering, remembering everything, and that young, powerful magic boy-detective gripped her prison, she let her pent-up rage, passion and all her other raw emotions loose in a massive fireball, scorching the beasts the hunger had created.

But now Taako remembered, and realized what had happened and he broke the prison, and she erupted into the world wreathed in flames, taking out the pillar of inky hunger blackness that was attacking her friends- her family.

Lup was back

-

“What do you mean, you didn’t realize it was me? What did I do?” Angus said, looking between Barry and Lup.

Barry kneeled down next to him, “You can piece this together, I know you can.”

Angus just stared.

“You heard our story, What’s the one loose end, the one member of the crew unaccounted for?” Lup took off her cloak and wrapped it around Angus, much like when he was first brought into this world.

“Your- your… child...” Angus said quietly, looking down at the ground. Then it clicked and he raised his head slowly. “Is- is that… me?”

“Only one way to find out. Let's go talk to Lucretia.”


	2. Reunion

Amongst the celebrating mass gathered at the edge of Neverwinter, Barry, Lup and Angus found Lucretia talking to a small group, who were asking her questions about the journey. 

“Hey, Luc, not to uh- interrupt you meeting your new fans, but we need to… talk… to you,” Barry said.

“Well, I’d think we would have plenty of time to-” Lucretia said as she turned around, before noticing the boy detective standing behind Lup and Barry, “Oh, right, yes of course.” 

Lucretia lead the three away from the crowd. 

“I’m so glad you figured it out.”

“So he’s him? Our son?”

Lucretia nodded. Lup blinked back the tears she can't cry and tried to rest her hand on Angus’s shoulder, only for it to phase through him. Barry ruffled Angus’s hair and wiped his eyes with his other hand, not bothering to restrain the tears of relief he’s crying as he realizes he finally has his whole family again. Angus smiles so brightly, trying not to tear up at the thought of finally having a real family.

“I did the best I could, finding a suitable agency that would place him with a wealthy family. I almost decided to raise him myself, but… I couldn’t do that, with what I was hoping to accomplish. I would have to modify his memories too much, and seeing what happened to Davenport, I didn’t want to risk that on a infant. I would have left him with either of you but… the two of you disappeared.” 

“Yeah, yeah. That’s our bad. Ango, I'm so sorry for leaving,” Lup said, _really_ wishing she had a physical form so she could hug her child.

Thankfully Barry did it for her.

-

After a few months Lup got her body back.

She tumbled out of the tank and into Barry’s arms, who quickly wrapped her red IPRE robe around her before she ‘smooched his fucking brains out.’ 

One serious round of smooching later, Lup, now fully clothed, and Barry exited the back room of Fantasy Costco, and headed towards the main dome of the moon base. The campus was empty now, with everyone preparing to head their separate ways. Lucretia was relocating the renamed “Bureau of Benevolence” to the surface, so her employees wouldn’t have to travel to the moon to get to work. In the months since the Day of Story and Song, the new campus for the Bureau had been built, and all that was left of the moonbase were a few members of the old Bureau, like Avi, Carey, Killian, the IPRE crew, and of course, Angus. 

Inside the main dome, Barry and Lup found Angus in the middle of a magic lesson with Taako. They were practicing Magic Missile, and Angus’s skill was impressive, most eleven year old half-elves were still only practicing cantrips, if they’d even started practicing magic at all. 

“Lookin’ good, Little man!” Lup called to him as he obliterated another wooden chair. Taako and Angus turned around to greet them, and paused as they saw Lup. Then they both broke into a run, racing to see who would get to her first. In the end Angus won and jumped on to Lup, who gripped him so tightly she realized she might be cutting off his air circulation. She also realized she might be crying. The two were quickly surrounded by another pair of arms as Taako joined the now-group hug, he murmured “Good to see you, Lulu,” and gripped her tighter. Finally Barry joined the hug and Lup was surrounded by her family, at last. Tears of happiness now falling freely down her face, Lup allowed herself to relax into their arms. 

“I-I’ve… all I’ve wanted for over a decade is this. To be able to hold you,” she was saying into Angus’s hair between sniffles, “I spent a decade in an umbrella, regretting my decision to leave the people I cared about, my family.” 

Angus looked up at her, “It’s okay because you’re here now. And… and this is all I’ve wanted for the last decade too… a real family,” he said.

“Well you got one now, Ango,” Barry said.

They stayed like that for a moment longer, before they heard the door open and a pair of feet hurtling across the floor toward them, and then something, no, someone joined their hug at an incredible speed, knocking them to the floor. 

“Magnus rushes in, I suppose,” Taako said breathlessly from the bottom of the pile, “way to ruin a touching family moment, my dude.”

“No, Taako, he’s family too. I suppose he can be let in on the reunion hug,” Lup said from on top of Taako, but under most of Magnus.

“Shit, I didn’t even realize that's what this was!” Magnus said, pretty much right into Lup’s ear, “Congrats on getting your body back!”

“Yes, its wonderful to see my sister in the flesh again, but not so wonderful to be trapped under her and a practical bear, Mango,” Taako wheezed.  
This caused everyone to laugh and for Magnus to roll off of Lup and on to Barry, who groaned, and then on to the floor. Lup giggled to herself and proceeded to not move from off Taako.

“We are seriously _not_ going to do this, Lu,” he grunted.

“I thought you missed me, bro bro.”

“I didn’t miss being smushed by you” he said as he pushed her off of him and on to Barry, who grunted again, but then wrapped his arms around Lup and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Get a room, losers,” Taako said as he sat up. 

“Pssh, it’s not like you haven’t seen more from us before,” Lup said as she pushed herself off of Barry and onto her knees, using Barry’s chest as a springboard.

Both Taako and Barry’s faces went red.

“That was _one time!_ And you forgot to lock your door! I had no intentions of seeing anything!”

“I was referring to the times we straight up made out on the couch of the starblaster, dingus, but thanks for bringing up _that_ incident.”

This caused everyone to laugh, except for Angus, while this discussion was taking place, Angus had also sat up, and was watching the interaction with the biggest smile on his face, seeing his family act so domestically was more than he’d ever hoped for in his life. 

Lup stopped glaring at Taako and looked across at Angus. 

“Let’s get back to that Magic lesson, I think it’s time you started learning about _fire._ It should run in your blood, after all,” Lup said as she stood up, and dusted off her pants as Angus got to his feet quickly.

“Of c-course, ma’- I mean… mom”

-

Lup’s physical reunions with the other members of the crew happened within a day.

After Angus’s magic lesson, they walked into the dome that was also the cafeteria and found Merle talking with Avi and Brad. Merle, enthralled in the conversation they were having, did not notice that Lup sat down next to him. Avi and Brad, who were seated across the table from him, stared at Lup confusedly.

“What? Is Taako trying out some new ridiculous eyeliner style again?” he asked as he turned to face the twin he assumed was Taako. Then he realized it wasn’t Taako.

“Oh! Lup! Got a body back I see! Good Job!” Merle said and clapped her on the back.

“For the record, I have _never_ had ridiculous eyeliner. It’s just that _you_ don’t have a sense of style, old man,” Taako said as he sat down on Lup’s other side.

Merle rolled his eyes and Lup gave him a one-armed hug. Noticing that Avi and Brad were still staring at her, Lup introduced herself.

“Hey, I’m that spooky lich that’s been floating around for like, months, I got my body back this morning and decided to take a reunion tour.”

“You, uh, look like Taako” Avi stated blankly, looking between the two twins.

“Well, we _are_ identical twins, although I was magic’ed into my preferred gender, and I look ten years younger than him. But we were Identical when we were younger,” Lup said nonchalantly.

“Seriously, you have lived on this moonbase with her for months and never gathered that she’s Taako’s sister?” Merle asked.

“Honestly, the whole lich thing freaked me out so I just kind of avoided you, sorry” Avi said sheepishly.

“It’s okay, my dude. Did you also miss the part where Ango here-” she pointed at the boy standing behind her, “is my son?”

“I had heard that,” Brad said as Avi tried not to do a spit take.

Lup laughed. 

“How unobservant are you?”

-

After a meal and a conversation that was mainly jokes at Avi’s expense, Lup, Barry, Angus, Taako, Magnus and Merle parted from Brad and Avi in search of Davenport and Lucretia. They found Davenport sitting on a bench on the quad, looking out at the world below.

“Hey Capn’port!” Magnus said as they approached.

“Daven-” he started as he looked over his shoulder, a lost look in his eyes, which disappeared when he recognized the group walking towards him, “Oh, greetings, crew!”

“Greetings, Captain!” The crew responded automatically, all of them automatically moving to stand at attention, shoulder to shoulder, like they were trained to over 110 years ago. Even though they never really used the protocol on their mission, the process was still ingrained in their memories from their days at the Institute. 

This caused Davenport to laugh and stand to face almost all of his crew, and Angus, “At ease, you know you don’t have to do that anymore. Now what brings you to me? Ah! Lup! You’ve got a body again! How wonderful!” Davenport said as he held out his hand for Lup to shake.

Lup took his hand, and then pulled him into a bone crushing hug. There was a soft “oof” from Davenport, and then a small chuckle. Lup pulled away from the gnome, who said, “I’m glad you’re back. We’re finally together again.”

“Well, not everyone…” Lup replied.

-

The crew looked all over the base for Lucretia, and it wasn’t until evening until Angus noticed the light in the back room of the dome containing the library. He quickly summoned the others to the entrance. 

“I already looked here though…” Merle said dejectedly. 

“Why did we send Merle to check here? Like, isn’t this is the most likely place?” Barry asked.

“Besides her quarters, which we checked first,” Angus added.

“Well, lead the way, you found her, after all,” Lup said to her son, patting his head.

Angus opened the door and headed for the back study room he’d seen the light shining through earlier. 

He walked up to the door and knocked gently, “Ma’am? Are you in there?” 

There was some shuffling behind the door and it slowly opened, revealing a nervous looking Lucretia. 

“Well, I suppose it had to happen sometime,” she sighed resigned to her fate, she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her, “Let me have it. Tell me what I did was wrong, tell me how I ruined all of your lives.”

There was a moment of silence before Lup stepped forward, and gently wrapped her arms around Lucretia’s sad form, Lucretia looked up in surprise. “I-” she started before Barry joined the hug.

“I don’t deserve this. Especially not from you two- three,” she said as Angus joined his parents.

Soon everyone was embracing Lucretia, even Taako, who Lucretia never thought she would earn the forgiveness of, but from the stiffness of his arms, she guessed she hadn’t quite gotten it yet. 

“Well, we are all together now, you’re going to have to get used to the way things used to be,” Lup said, “We’re a family, a hundred-year old one to be exact.”

-

That night they had all sat together in the living room of Magnus, Merle and Taako’s shared living quarters. They could have spent the whole night reminiscing about their time aboard the starblaster for Angus, Kravitz, Carey, Killian, Avi and Brad, who had all joined them to hear more about their adventures. Of course some of them had heard the stories before. All seven of them had been interrogated after the Day of Story and Song, but this time they were able to hear everyone’s perspectives on the events that happened.

The three person couch, that had been stretched to a four person using a little transmutation magic, was occupied by Barry, who was squished against the armrest, but leaning in towards Angus and Lup, his arm wrapped around them both. Lup, on the other side of Angus, was doing similar, one arm wrapped around Angus, and the other wrapped around Taako, who’s back was pressed to her side, his legs in Kravitz’s lap. 

Little eleven year old Angus had tried his hardest to stay awake, but eventually he just got so comfortable, snuggled in between his parents, that he started to drift off, leaning against Lup’s side.

“Well this has been fun, but it seems like it’s way past Ango’s bedtime,” Lup said as she noticed the clock was reading about one in the morning, “besides, the little dude’s pooped, and I’m going to get him to bed.”

There were yawns and murmurs of agreement from around the room, and Carey had also fallen asleep, curled up in Killian’s lap in one of the recliners the boys had acquired in the past months. If anything defined this conglomeration of people as a family, it was a scene like this. 

Lup elbowed Taako in the back, causing Taako to grumble and rotate so he was sitting in Kravitz’s lap. Lup started to stand, causing Angus to stir. Lup hushed him and gathered him in her arms, and _fuck, kids are heavy. I remember when this was easier._ Angus instinctively wrapped his legs around her torso and his arms around her neck. Barry stood up after her, and headed to the door to open it for her. With quiet ‘goodbyes’ the two left and headed down the hall to the suite Lucretia revealed she had had built for their family when the moonbase was being constructed, should they ever return. It was like the boys’ apartment, with a living room and kitchen, but with only two rooms, one for Angus, and one for Barry and Lup. 

Barry opened the door for Lup and Angus, and when the door clicked closed, Angus murmured “I could have walked.”

“Well I missed out on a few years of getting to carry you, so I figured I’d make up for lost time. You want me to put you down so you can get ready for bed?” Lup asked, and Angus nodded into her shoulder. 

Lup set him down on the floor and Angus sleepily shuffled his way to his room. A few minutes later he came out in a set of fancy red and white striped pyjamas.

“You all ready, hun?” Lup asked, “Brush your teeth and everything?” 

Angus nodded and rubbed his eyes sleepily. 

“Want us to tuck you in?”

Angus nodded again and Lup and Barry stood up from the couch where they’d been sitting and followed him into his room, where he pulled back the covers of his perfectly made bed, and climbed in. Lup pulled the cover back up to his chin, and gently kissed his forehead, “Goodnight, Ango,” she said, and Angus reached his arms up to give her a hug, she leaned into it and embraced him, “You don’t know how much I missed this. How much I missed you. I, no, we, love you so, so very much.”

Lup stood up and let Barry pass in front of her so he could hug Angus as well, he gave Angus a soft “Goodnight, let us know if you need anything,” and then he and Lup headed for his door.

“I love you too,” Angus said quietly as they left.

Lup turned and smiled at him, saying “I love you more!” 

As she closed the door behind her, she vowed to herself that she would never let herself forget anything this important again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, thats the first installment of 'Something this Important,' a series within the universe where Lup and Barry are Angus's biological parents. 
> 
> I have a couple more installments planned, the next of which is called 'Guilt.'
> 
> I'm probably going to write a unrelated Taako piece first though. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> So I hope you liked it. This is my first /real/ fan fiction... besides the homestuck fic I wrote six years ago. 
> 
> I'm sorry if I handled making Lup biologically able to have a child inappropriately. I admit I'm not really qualified to write from her perspective (I don't have the trans experience). 
> 
> Also sorry if the pregnancy bits are awkward. I felt awkward researching and writing it.
> 
> This fan theory is my absolute favorite theory so I just had to write it. Expect a collection of stories. I've already got a couple one shots planned.
> 
> This story will have a second chapter, so expect that soon (hopefully). 
> 
> Thanks! 
> 
> ~SpaceEdgars


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